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Central Wyoming College sophomore point guard Davion Pearson dribbled the ball against freshman Tyson Lone Bear in practice at Rustler Gym. From left in the back were, Arik Mawien, Bakata Justin, Kyler Williams, David Baety and Gabe Burroughs. Photo by Wayne Nicholls

Defense key for CWC basketball team in new season

Oct 31, 2012 - By Bruce Tippets, Sports Editor

Shelby Lindley was asked Monday by Central Wyoming College to be the men's head basketball coach for the 2012-13 season.

Lindley and his CWC players start the season at 6 p.m. Thursday against Impact Academy at Rustler Gym. Lindley replaces former CWC coach Curtis Condie.

Lindley was first hired to be an assistant coach.

"The kids have been great," Lindley said. "The kids have handled it well. We have all had to mature together. They show up to practice and they work hard. They take care of their business. That is how we are going to carry on with it."

The Rustlers began practice Oct. 1.

"I think that we have progressed well," Lindley said. "We have to get better defensively. It's not a struggle defensively, but we have to get our communication down. That is the biggest thing."

CWC has played in scrimmages in Salt Lake City and at Casper College.

"We have plenty of offense," Lindley said. "It won't matter unless we rebound and play defense. The kids are understanding that."

After the season opener, the Rustlers play Monday night vs. Colorado Northwestern at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. "We will get up and down a little bit," Lindley said. "We are going to pressure the ball. It's not going to be a 40 minute game of pressing. Our goal is not to allow many transition buckets. We can't give up transition points. We have guys that can run and we have bigs that are mobile."

Depth is not going to be a problem for the Rustlers.

"Lineups are going to change," Lindley said. "There might be a time that we play small. There might be a time that we can play big.

We can go almost 6-foot-5 across the board expect for the point guard position if we wanted to."

CWC players

The guard tandem of sophomore Davion Pearson and freshman Paris Burns were the first two players mentioned by Lindley.

The two guards are listed at 5-foot-11.

"They can do a lot of things defensively," Lindley said. "Both of them at times relax sometimes. They can be very deadly at times. They do great things on the offensive end of the floor. They make great decisions."

Sophomore Armani Flannigan is going to be asked to do a lot of things from Lindley.

Flannigan stands at 6-8. He was one of the top players last year for the Rustlers.

"Armani is one of the most athletic kids that I have ever been around," Lindley said. "Armani is one of the most unselfish kids that I have ever been around. Armani is doing great things. I expect big things out of him.